Charlotte
Magdalene 'Lena'
(Younkin) Doyle Showman
(1900-1972)
Charlotte
Magdalene "Lena" (Younkin) Doyle Showman was born on Feb. 1, 1900 in
Clay Run, Fayette County, PA, the daughter of William
‘Dayton’ and Lucinda (Harbaugh) Younkin.
In 1926, Lena attended the 94th birthday party of her grandmother and partial namesake, Mary Magdalene (Whipkey) Harbaugh, held on the old Harbaugh homestead at what is now Clairton Lake near Scullton, Somerset County, PA. The event attracted some 225 family and friends, and became the first annual Harbaugh Reunion. The reunions are still held today.
As
a young woman Lena worked as a clerk in Connellsville. There, she boarded with
her brother Osborne in the "rooming floors" above an old opera house owned by Alex Chinn. In November
1926, they narrowly escaped a disaster when their boarding house "was totally
destroyed by fire." Among the possessions she rescued was the old Harbaugh
Bible that she had borrowed from her grandmother. She and her brother David
are said to have taken the drenched relic to brother Warren's
home, where it was placed on towels on top of a heater, so it could be dried. The Bible’s covers and edges
were scorched and stained with water damage, but was saved, thanks to Lena’s quick thinking and loving care afterward to help preserve it.
Later, the Bible served as major source material for the Harbaugh History
book, published in 1947 by Cora Bell and J.L. Cooperider.
Lena served as maid of honor when Os married Katherine Williams two years later, in 1928.
On
April 12, 1929, at age 29, Lena married 42-year-old Patrick J. Doyle, a native
of County Duran, Ireland. He was the son of Thomas and Isabelle (Carberry)
Doyle, and was a foreman at the time of marriage. They had 2 children.
Patrick is believed to have been an employee of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which had major operations in Connellsville. Lena was a member of the B&O Veterans Association. She also worked for Anchor Hocking Glass Company in Connellsville. They were members of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church, where she belonged to its Confraternity of Christian Mothers.
The B&O yards at Connellsville, with the city as a backdrop,
and the
Youghiogheny River in the foreground
In 1942, Patrick died, of causes unknown.
Lena later married Benton L. Showman ( ? -1967). They lived on Willow Street in Connellsville. While at work at the B&O yards one day in March 1938, Benton fell from a freight car and suffered a possible fractured clavicle. He was taken the local hospital, but fortunately his condition was not considered serious. Benton died in 1967.
In 1934, when Lena’s brother Charles co-founded the Younkin National Home Coming Reunion, she supported the effort, and arranged for her young daughter to sing as part of the official schedule of events. In its heyday, the event drew more than 1,000 people annually.
Lena also enjoyed the Harbaugh Reunions, and is known to have been in attendance in 1948, 1954 and 1965. Her son won the "Furthest Traveled" Award in 1954, coming a distance of 700 miles. In 1965, husband Ben received the "Oldest Man Award.
On Dec. 14, 1972, Lena died at the Connellsville State General Hospital at the age of 72.
Copyright © 2001-2003 Mark A. Miner